Lily Evans- Seventh Year

Prologue

Lily had always loved the snow, from as far back as she could remember, but when her parents had taken her and her sister to the Alps she had experienced it like never before. For in London, when it snowed (if ever) it turned to slush the moment it hit the ground. But not in the Alps, the thick snowflakes took their time to hit the ground and once they did, it was like a blanket of snow keeping it light even in the darkest of nights. Though Lily was not afraid of the dark she loved the way the light from the snow made her feel brave and safe enough to sneak outside when all others were asleep and just watch the sky, occasionally getting a glimpse of the winter stars when the clouds would pass.

Lily had been sad to leave the Alps when the time came, just like all kids when a vacation came to an end but for Lily it felt like she was leaving a best friend and not even at the boarding school that she was to attend the next year, the one already attended by her older sister Petunia, would she be able to feel that security. For this school was an hour from London and had regretfully the same yearly weather. Of course during the summer of that year when she had gotten her Hogwarts letter telling her she was a witch, all thoughts of the snow had been temporally replaced.

Unlike most muggle-born witches and warlocks that would attend a school they didn't know existed, Lily hadn't been nervous or frightened, for though she'd hate to admit it Lily was the textbook example of the red headed, spitfire stereotype. Head strong, loyal and short tempered, the latter of the three being most prominent when she was around certain people, namely Petunia who seemed (if possible) to hate her younger sister even more the years following that summer. For unlike Lily's parents, who had been thrilled and welcomed the news that their youngest daughter was a witch, the eldest daughter thought of it as a freakish disease that one was able to catch if they got to near, and proceeded to curse Lily under her breath with a few tasteless comments at any possible chance she had.

So Lily had boarded the Hogwarts express for the first time, waving to a couple of ecstatic parents and sneering to a disgusted sister. Little did she know that this trip to her school would go down in history and pave the future for her seven years at Hogwarts. For one, she had found herself an empty compartment that was soon joined by three other girls her age. These four girls turned out to be her best friends right through her school years but at that moment Lily was just glad to not have to spend the whole train ride by herself. Within minutes they were friends and their only problem was hoping to be sorted into the same house.

Though that had changed somewhat a few hours later when there were sounds of a fight just outside their compartment. Being the curious ones out of the four, Lily and Dorcas had opened their compartment door to see a boy with greasy black hair falling into his eyes and sporting dirty robes standing beside a blond haired boy with a slightly upturned nose dressed to the nines in immaculate black robes, both boys pointing their wands at a couple of black haired boys. The first boy had hair that stood up in all directions giving him an almost windswept appearance; he had a pair of large dark almond brown eyes that were twinkling behind his spectacles. Beside him stood a slightly taller boy of about the same age who hair fell down into his eyes in neat silky strands, he was smirking in a way that mirrored his friend's eyes. To this day Lily still remembered that fight but not what had been said, for that was the day that she has been marked by the two, soon to be, most notorious pranksters that Hogwarts had even seen. James Potter and Sirius Black (as Lily later found out) had disarmed the first to boys within seconds and were about to hex them when Lily had stepped in front of their wands. After refusing repeatedly to get out the way, the two armed boys had angrily conceded and with one last 'death glare' in her direction and returned to their compartment. Without a word of thanks the two wand-less boys had ran back to their own compartment.

That night Lily and her friends had been sorted into Gryffindor but it was a bitter sweet victory as Potter and Black were also made Gryffindor, they had been joined with two other first years, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, the four of them would later be named the Marauders, a name that would follow them throughout their years. The two other boys from the earlier fight had been sorted into Slytherin, Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy became, if it possible at the age of eleven, mortal enemies of the aforementioned Marauders. Causing many fights between Slytherins and Gryffindors, though Lily was told there had always been a large rivalry between the two houses.

The Marauders had also taken to making Lily's life at Hogwarts a living Hell and, guilty by association, her friend's lives as well. They took to pranking one or all of them at least once a week, a pattern that they continued for some time. Though it occurred to Lily later on that maybe, had the girls not retaliated almost every time, the Marauders would have lost interest if the thrill of the challenge had not been there. Though Lily knew that she could have never let the Marauders win, especially not Potter who became the bane of Lily's existence, a title only challenged by Petunia.

As her classes started Lily found that she was rather good at most aspects of magic but especially excelled in both Potions and Charms. She became one of the top students in her classes in a matter of weeks having only to compete with Potter and his cronies (well except for Peter, though she had only ever seen Remus study. Although, Lily's favorite part of her first year came the morning that fall finally turned to winter, she had woken up to find her beloved Hogwarts covered in the same blanket of shimmering snow, as in the Alps. So naturally she had snuck out that night after all of the first year girls were asleep. She quickly trudged a path that in the coming years would become as familiar to her as Alice crawling into her bed after a particularly scary dream.

Surrounded by the security that she had missed so, Lily looked towards the stars once more and became lost in its twinkling smile. She remembered sneaking out every night that week and had paid for it drastically the next few mornings. Eventually when she was sure that the snow was not going to disappear anytime soon, she began to sneak out only on Friday nights, where she, in good conscience could lose herself once more and not feel the repercussions that the next morning's classes would bring. That was one tradition that Lily, throughout her years at Hogwarts, had never broken. She became so relaxed in her world that not even the cold surrounding her body could penetrate. As a matter of fact, nothing had ever broken into her world in the snow, until one night early in December during her fifth year. Lily had been so consumed by the stars that she did not see the handsome stag coming near to her spot on the flat rock until it was mere feet from where she lay. She had of course been startled at first to see such dark almond eyes staring intently at her, but once the initial shock had subsided; she had reached her hand out to it. Oddly enough, it did not become restless and put on the defense as many wild animals would have done but instead it had allowed her to pet the spot on its head between its two rather large antlers. It had even moved closer and almost nestled up beside her.

And so it became that this stag would be the only one Lily would let into her world, every once in a while it would come out from the forest and join her in the snow. Ironically enough Lily was not worried about sharing her secret, it was rather comforting to share it with someone who could not tell others. So for the time being her secret was safe and she enjoyed the soundless company.

Lily's Friday night visitor was not the oddest thing to happen to her that year. In fact it was almost normal compared to the way Potter had taken to react when around her. It had begun on the train back to the school in September. He had come up behind her and grabbed her by the waist. She was startled and had whipped out her wand and had pointed it at her assailant's neck. Potter released his grip and stepped back, but his devilish smirk was still as present as ever. He proceeded to ask her out on a date, one in which she had pointedly refused. Though the weird thing at that time had been that he seemed undaunted by this response and had strode away casually back to his awaiting friends. His proposals of courtship continued, and it came to a point that she could not go a day without him asking.

This had continued all the way to her seventh year. Where upon meeting him on the Hogwarts express on her way to the Heads' Compartment, had been struck dumb by his merely kind greeting and not a proposal of a date. Oddly enough, Lily felt a sence of loss, it wasn't as if she liked him, no that wasn't the case, nor did she think that he had any real feelings for her as well, for after denying him a date on many occasions he had never seemed to need one, there was always some girl in line for a stab at one of Hogwarts most eligible bachelors. In fact the Marauder boys were the most sought after in the school, Potter and Black more so then the other two, though Remus could have had more if he wanted to. Lily couldn't possibly fathom as to why the girls in her school were unable to hold in their giggles and stares when the Marauders were around, in fact, it made her rather sick. No, the loss she felt was in the security that she felt in her routine, and now more then ever with the war looming outside the Hogwarts gates, security was all she really wanted. It was all anyone wanted.

It was all this that Lily thought about as she made her way to her favorite flat rock near the lake for the first time all year. The heavy snowfall of the night before had made this Friday the perfect one to rekindle an old tradition. And as the golden stag lay soundlessly down beside her, Lily hardly blinked an eye. Some things at least had not changed...